Life is not a bullet point list

The Internet is probably the most amazing invention of our generation. In just a couple decades the world changed completely, so many things became possible and accessible for so many people. It played a crucial role in my life and spirituality, enabling me to discover possibilities for growth, expansion, and insights. Through the net, I found my spiritual teachers, met people who helped me greatly, found the information I needed and places where I could meditate for years, undisturbed and unhassled by the demands of mainstream society.

And yet, when it comes to “food for the soul” the convenience and speed of glancing through an online material lead to an interesting phenomenon – writing about far-reaching, substantial topics in a bullet point manner, like “5 things to make you happy.” Really? That simple? Scan it through on the way to work and that’s it – you are happy forever!

“1o ways to inner peace,” “6 steps to success,” “3 ways to find your true life purpose” – that how they recommend that you write for the web – simple, uncomplicated, bullet points suitable for quick scanning. Some more noise to fill your head, baby food for the conditioned mind, predictable, safe, and ultimately useless for anything but “creating content”.

It seems like this fantastic medium of unlimited possibilities also has an unlimited potential to stupify us, to simplify everything to a list, and really mislead – all for the sake of readability and traffic.

Life is never that simple, it is not a set of abstract labels, we actually make it boring and predictable by assigning labels and then believing them. There is no “the only one for every case” recipe for happiness. Not 5 recipes, not even 10 or 100. There is no “one true way to awakening”, and there is no way to judge your spiritual progress using “10 signs of enlightenment.”

Life is not a set of prescriptions, not a list of things – it is an amazing discovery at every turn, ever fresh and new, overflowing with creativity and shining with peace, intricate and full. It is calling us to grow, it challenges us, it asks for a fresh look at every situation, for living it, feeling it with our full being – can you really capture that in bullet points?